Bob Couchenour the first years

We are an independent recording studio with eclectic interests. Two musicians with eighty-five years collective music experience, and networking with other musicians and artists around the world, developing our own creations and enhancing those of others. We are creating our own reality and proving that dreams do come true - if you want them, move towards them and provide the environment for it to happen.

Ed Talbot and Bob Couchenour originally became friends on Multiply and through the course of events Bob moved from Gettysburg Pennsylvania USA to Ed's residence outside Providence Rhode Island and here joined forces to work together and realize a common dream and vision of both. These recordings were made at a jam session May 27, 2009 auditioning a drummer to become a part of the group.

Son of Man
I have thought of subtitling this “Relative Divinity – A Problem With the Deification of Jesus”, but that seems too radical for the way many “Christians” think and process new data, outside the orthodox box, paradigm or mind set, so – just pretend you didn’t read this sentence. “POOF”!!! There, I waved my magic wand, and it’s not there any more.
Sound ridiculous?
Sure it does. Because it IS still there. It’s still in your mind. And if you re continuing to read, you are curious. A new thought has been planted in that fertile ground of imagination and possibilities and you are experiencing a stimulus of “life”. Something is prodding you to consider that there may be potentials of being available to YOU, a simple human. Things that have remained hidden, buried in the depths of your being, but there none the less, and maybe, just “maybe”, there is a hope of finding what that nature and hidden reality is.
Let me assure you though, before too many hopes are given rise too, that “I AM NOT the one to give you all the answers”. I am but a spiritual pilgrim myself. I may be a few steps ahead of a few of you, but there are many, many who have gone before me that I glean and learn from. And as I do, and process that information, AND allow the life within me to nurture and reinvigorate these, a resurrection of life is manifested, to be witnessed by ALL that the same Spirit of Life would touch and impart itself into.
Okay, I know it’s starting to sound “spooky” to some of you. But before you write this off too quick, SLOW DOWN…re-read slowly… give the words and thoughts some time to process. It’s NOT that weird. THINK. (hmmm - what a concept)
I have found eighty-five (85) references in the New Testament Gospels to the “son of man”. Orthodox theology has designated this saying or concept, as a “title”. A title to refer to “Jesus”, equivalent as “the son of God”, i.e. the title “Son of Man” equals the title “Son of God”, only “Son of Man” emphasizing Jesus’ humanity and “Son of God” emphasizing his divinity. Got it? Literally, for all you literalists, “son of man” “Denotes mankind generally, with special reference to their weakness and frailty (Job 25:6; Ps. 8:4; 144:3; 146:3; Isa. 51:12, etc.)”, I.e. – Humanity – human beings. Orthodox theology, and this includes Evangelicals of every flavor, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, declare this, ‘son of man’, to be a “distinctive title of the Savior…It denotes the true humanity of our Lord. He had a true body (Heb. 2:14; Luke 24:39) and a rational soul. He was perfect man.”
But, “Is this assumed orthodox perception what Jesus was saying and referring to when he used this phrase, ‘son of man’?”
Yes, “Son of Man” is a title referring to Jesus. But it is more.
As the “Son of Man” equaling the “Son of God”, it is easy to rationalize a peculiar divinity, coequal status of Jesus with the “father” God. We can elevate and worship Jesus “the” Christ, and thereby place God and His being as external to human experience. The rationalization that Jesus could “do it” because he “was God” becomes ingrained in our psyche and very convenient to every excuse and selfish rational pardoning our lower, base, carnal whims, as opposed to realizing the full nature that is humanity as expressed and demonstrated to us in the person, the human, the man Jesus.
What Jesus did, what Jesus said, ALL that was Jesus – Jesus, the being who walked and lived and had his presence among us earthly terrestrials some 2000 years ago, ALL that manifested in that life, was the experience of a human being. A full, spiritually enabled, materially existent – human being. A “son of man”. And the fullest expression of the “son of man”, human.
Was Jesus, the one called the Christ, the man bearing and [...]

Speaking in Language We Can Understand
We, human beings,, speak, write and generally communicate in language that makes “sense” to us. We draw from images containing associative meaning to express our perceptions of “truth” and “reality”. As new language is developed, words coined and more precisely narrowed and defined, our ability to articulate what it is that we really mean is enhanced. This process of expanding language and in so doing becoming able to more clearly understand the nature of reality and the accompanying possibilities may be exactly what is necessary for us to live in the depths of our being. And thus drawing ever closer to that divine character of Christ in us.
By necessity, language has always been expanding. Ancient languages expressing spiritual and cognitive truths, as they became perceptively archaic and antiquated, were supplanted by languages more receptive to growing and broadening, incorporating the definitions of new words, and thus conveying to the then and now contemporary minds, the substance of what is being communicated. This process in no way subjugates the ancient languages as inferior or unable to convey truth and reality in the context of their respective cultures. Our contemporary problem is the literalism we associate and apply to the interpretation of the images conveyed through these ancient writings. We contemporaries in our insistence on narrowly defined absolutes fail to comprehend and appreciate the richness and all the ancient language contains expressed in so few conceptualizations. We seek to translate word for word, concept for concept, expecting that our committed dedication to literalism is in fact the only infallible means of passing on the spiritual truths understood by our ancient forbearers. We fail to realize that our literal interpretations are not the full truth as understood and received by our ancient ancestors. Our literalisms, word for word, concept for concept, story for story, fails in that we do not live in the same world paradigm as the original. Our world, as may be experienced by an ancient, may well be perceived as a step into the “Twilight Zone” or “The Outer Limits” and even as we may conjure our own perceptions of fantasy. But our world is not the world of the ancients. Yet there is a common spiritual connection between us. And there is common spiritual reality to be experienced. Our contemporary problem is that we too often try to conceive and realize that truth in a paradigm perception as foreign to us as if we were living in another galaxy and life is no longer carbon based but silicon based.
The ancients, for all we know, did not have the scientific understandings available to us. That does not preclude the lack of understanding as to the what and how of what was to be realized in human spiritual capacities. Their communications may appear less sophisticated and descriptive, but that would only be to the undiscerning eye and mind. The richness of the language and the concepts conveyed may well have, and I believe assuredly, expressed in terms relevant to their world view, the actualities of spiritual reality that we, in our literal hopes, have found so elusive. Elusive, yes, but only as we fail to engage in the mind that would speak in our time to our present-day cultures.
1700 years ago the baby was thrown out with the bath water. Narrow literalisms, and dogma based on shallow cognitive reasoning supplanted the actual faith in what is the innate divine life in humankind. Political convenience became the rule of the church and alliance with secular rulers the sought after prize to prop up and maintain the appearance of life in the now starving deprived body of Christ.
But life had not been totally lost, and in times manifested, only to be squelched. Persecuted, made the subject o inquisition and crusade, feared for what it could [...]

"How can a good God allow human suffering?"
"What father among you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!" (Luke 11:11-13, AMP)
Human beings are capable of both “good” and “evil” deeds and actions. As a matter of our created nature, and as Orthodox theology would espouse, our fallen nature inherited through natural lineage from Adam and Eve and their sin and fall in the garden. Orthodox theology purports that this “fall” tainted ALL of creation with the sin of this transgression, thus allowing into creation the effects of evil and all the accompanying suffering.
"The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God. And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us! For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship]. For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—[yet] with the hope That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children. We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons). " (Romans 8:16-23, AMP)
It goes without question that creation is in one hell of a mess. We, humanity, are as much a part of that creation as any rock, tree, cesspool, mountain, ocean, planet, sun, star galaxy or universe. We are subject to the laws and material nature of manifested created reality.
Genesis tells us that “God” created… ALL that is. It further tells us that “God” judged and condemned man and mankind for the transgression of one. And we are told that multiplying sin and transgression entered human history, thus compounding the judgments’ to follow and affecting human relations ever since. The effects are unarguable. History, regardless of the source bears out the dilemma humanity finds itself.
The question we are faced with is: Is this “God” of creation, the God of judgment, the God of Law, the God of conquering and wiping out entire civilizations, Is this the God that Jesus eludes to as “Our Father in heaven”? Or is it possible that this “creator God”, the God of Israel, the God of the Pharisees, this is the God Jesus referred to as “your father, the devil”?
"You are of your father, the devil, and it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him,[...]

Question:
“There can be only one absolute truth, I believe God wants us to make an effort to find this truth, (himself).”
“I read your blogs and would like to know what you mean in describing the dichotomy between the "creator god" and the god that might deliver one beyond this futile creation. Where does YHVH (Yahweh) fit in all of this?”
We go through life, prodding our way, making decisions based on assumptions of truth and reality handed down to us, or extrapolated from prior experience, and which we in the moment grant absolute status. Even realizing the potential error inherent in our assumptions, we press forward, because we believe without question that there must be some “absolute” reality to make sense of it all. We assume there must be a “personal” creator. By personal I mean a supreme being or entity that is the first cause of all that is the realm of creation that we can see, touch, smell, hear, and in any other way or manner perceive, and this personal creator is “personal” in that “He” manifests attributes and qualities associated with humans, thus binding him in relation to humankind.
We go through life and experience and realize many things that we cannot explain or find difficult to fit into our evolved logical reasonable categories. For each individual person the level of this cognitive development may be different. That does not necessarily mean one may be superior to another cognitively, but it may, but what it infers is rather there is a lack of exercise to develop, experience and realize, potentials of thought or spiritual perception that are not commonly recognized and endorsed as the “norm”.
We live in a “religious” world. Some find ourselves in the context of a western culture dominated and influenced by an “orthodox” Christian (oC) world view. This “oC” paradigm has experienced mutations through the centuries (i.e. accommodating scientific relativism, the Reformation, and more), but has been able to survive to exert influence in our culture, beyond the politically correct accepted stratum deemed acceptable by the society as a whole. Even those who would call themselves atheists find themselves bound to the influence of the dominant cultural influence. It’s a matter of survival. In other areas of the world, the predominant religious influence differs, but the exertion of influence within those cultures, is comparable (Islamic cultures, Hindu, Buddhist, relativistic humanism, etc). Being “dropped” in the middle of any of these cultural situations, from birth or transmigration, one is left with the dilemma of fitting in, or being ostracized for being “different”. That does not mean one cannot be individually different, but there are usually costs and consequences deemed too high for the distinction of being “true” to ones self. You can see much of this in the cultural seasonal celebrations and holidays we partake in. Nobody (or very few) wants to be considered a “Scrooge”.
As we make our way in life, most of us simply want to survive. And if we can accomplish that, the next priority is to build some sense of security, a financial nest egg, property, and a position of influence – something that gives us a sense of power over our own lives. Having these, the desire to control that which is beyond us – others - through financial, political, and religious means. Doing this means accommodating the systems that be. To advocate something that is not considered the “orthodox” norm (and I use orthodox in the broadest sense here to include orthodox economic, orthodox political, and orthodox religious norm), going against the flow of society in general, is a very risky under taking and can lead to disastrous personal and collective results, should failure or no realization be the case. Better[...]

(image) Most of what we receive as external information and ingested in our minds can become mental and psychological terrorists in us. The only real absolute is the indwelling nature of God that is in you. You come to know this relation, by first coming to know yourself. In Christ - You (and I) are in God and are ONE with God. This is the Good News or Gospel. Until we come to realize this inner relation and live and experience life in this, we rely on doctrine, dogma, tradition and religion. These, "doctrine, dogma, tradition and religion" are all man made creations and formulations and as any creation of man can dominate and terrorize the Spirit of God in us. To be sure, some doctrines were devised for specifically no other purpose but to control. This is not spiritual life. This is not being in Christ. In You is God's nature. You can feel it, although most have been taught to suppress it. And being taught thus, have forgotten. So we live in ignorance of God in us. The hidden treasure we search for, but look everywhere except where He is. And that is right inside us. I am learning and realizing there is power in coming to experience this "God in us". To be sure - I am a novice. And considering the infinitude of what it is that dwells in us I don't believe realizing His truth as an actuality can ever be said to advance beyond that of a novice. I am finite, but the infinite dwells in me (and you). But I can only experience a minute drop of that ocean at a time. Yet it is ALL accessible to me, and to you. And it is already there. But we have been taught wrong. We have been taught "religion". We have not been taught to experience the actual manifest relation in the divine. It is not unbiblical. It is not, in a broad sense, unorthodox. It is not common or usual. It is misrepresented by so-called experts in their ignorance. And in the church this preferred ignorance has become the self perpetuating religious machine, assuming a relation with God, but never actually experiencing it to be able to even recognize and judge in Spiritual categories as opposed to the humanly devised assumed religious ones. And not experiencing the "Spirit" - the indwelling "Word" - the "Logos" - "Christ", religion terrorizes us.

(image) I believe there is only “one true God”, but, who or what that “God” may be is subject to a great deal of conjecture. And it is in our conjecturing and deductive analysis that we come to inferences that become graven mental images carved in stone in our minds. And as these “images” become assumed as absolute, though they actually be but constructs of our own mental resources, their assigned presumed absolute nature elevates them and grants them the “power” and influence as though they were the “one true God” in our lives.

(image) I've wanted to do this for several years, but I am just now finding the opportunity to put things together. I started gathering things in October and the process, I am finding, becomes more involved than originally anticipated. These recordings are my 2006 Christmas Collection. I hoped to have twice as many completed, and probably could if I was content to push back the deadline to December 24 - but I wanted this out by Thanksgiving. Guess I should have started back in August. Oh Well - Christmas Collection 2006 -Part One. Part Two will be the Christmas 2007 Collection. I'll release them all as One CD at that time. Between Thanksgiving and December 31 (New Years Eve) individual MP3s may be downloald for free on my SoundClick page at http://www.soundclick.com/bobcouchenour. After that - they are for sale. Individual videos will be posted on my YouTube page. Enjoy and God Bless you through this Holiday Season and into the New Year. - Bob, Bogart and Leyna

I am a musician - But more ...an artist.
A few years ago, an elderly retired minister looked at me and made the simple statement, " You are filled with music".
Yes - I am - It is a struggle, a passion and some may even call it an obsession. I just think it is what God made me and wants me to do.
This piece was written last year around Sept and October and recorded in December.
"Dan MacIntosh, in the Indie-Music.com review states "One called "After The Flood" is a little eerie, quite honestly. It causes one to envision what the world must have been like after all the turmoil caused by divine global flooding". Well - I guess that fits - I actually put this piece together right after Hurricane Katrina and the images of the suffering and devastation of that time was the primary mover for "After the Flood". Not specifically a Christian message - but I think it will work.".
I just gathered the images off the flickr! database and threw this together this afternoon. Video arts and editing is not my forte - but I think it delivers the message.